Untitled
by LiterateQuill
Summary: On a perfectly ordinary morning, Hinata wakes up and decides that she wants ramen for breakfast. So, she goes to the ramen shop. She meets someone there and it's not Naruto. GaaHina
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Well, it's been a while since I've submitted anything here. I'm sorry, but life has kept me busy. If you're waiting for the next chapter of "The Name", you're in for a long wait, because that particular story has been barricaded with writer's block. If you're waiting for the continuation of "Ron's Talent", I'm not updating until I get some feed back aka reviews!**

**Ok, this is my first Naruto fanfic, so don't judge it too harshly. It's Gaara/Hinata, I just love that pairing! The name of this story is a work in progress, because I have no idea what to name it yet :P.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series. If I did, Gaara and Hinata would have gotten together a loooooooong time ago.**

Untitled (until a title can be found)

She had always been a quiet girl. No one really seemed to notice her and she was fine with that. She had grown up watching Naruto from afar, hoping that perhaps one day, she'd pluck up the courage to really talk to him. Alas, that day had not come yet. How she hoped and prayed that that day would come soon, but it didn't. As Neji might say, Naruto was not her destiny.

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Hyuuga Hinata stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom. Gazing back at her was a plain girl with short dark hair and clear eyes. _Nothing special_, she would think to herself. Giving the mirror a slightly annoyed glance, she left her room and made her way to the front doors of the Hyuuga household. She pushed them open and breathed in the crisp morning air of Konohagakure. How lovely it was.

She quickly descended the front steps and made her way to the ramen shop. This morning, she was in the mood for something simple. The familiar sight of the red booth greeted her eyes five minutes later. She sat down and was about to order when something, or rather, someone caught her eye. She gasped.

Hinata had seen this boy before, during the Chuunin exams. She recognized his reddish-brown hair and the strange mark on his forehead. What was his name? What was the name of the boy she had seen murder three ninjas during the trial in the forest? The answer came as she remembered the electronic machine which had decided who Lee would fight against in the preliminaries. His name was Gaara.

She stared at him and before she could avert her eyes, Gaara's head turned slowly to face her. He fixed her with one of his piercing glares. Hinata shivered and looked down at the countertop. She knew he was still glaring at her, she could feel his gaze boring a hole into her.

"What can I get you?" asked the cheery shop owner.

Hinata's head snapped upward in surprise. She had almost forgotten where she was. "Just plain ramen, thank you." she uttered quietly.

"Coming right up." said the shop owner, as he placed a steaming bowl in front of her.

Hinata busied herself with her ramen in an effort to shake off the feeling of Gaara's gaze, which was making her feel more and more uncomfortable. She was halfway through the bowl of noodles when a voice broke the silence.

"You're name's Hinata, isn't it?" asked Gaara quietly.

Hinata nearly choked on her ramen. She didn't even want to look at Gaara, much less talk to him.

"Y-yes." she replied.

"You fought your cousin in the Chuunin exam didn't you?"

"Y-y-yes." she stuttered even more. Unconsciously, she started to fidget with a fold in the fabric of her sweatshirt.

Gaara closed his eyes. "Yes, I remember. All that blood…"

Hinata shivered to an extent she had never thought possible. Gaara was a very frightening person. She was debating the idea of running away when Gaara spoke again.

"You almost died."

"Yes, I d-did almost die, but the medic nins were there so…." she trailed off. Talking about near-death experiences with a killer didn't sit quite well with her. Her ever increasing sense of unease must have decided to show itself, because Gaara chuckled.

"I frighten you, don't I?"

Hinata was about to say no, purely out of politeness, but she was interrupted.

"Don't pretend that I don't. I scare everyone."

Hinata looked up at him, he was still glaring at her, but miraculously, she didn't look away. "S-so, what brings you to this ramen shop?" she asked.

Gaara didn't answer right away. "I'm here with Temari. She's visiting Shikamaru. I…couldn't sleep… so I decided to get something to eat."

Hinata giggled internally. She had heard that Shikamaru had told Temari how he felt about her a few days ago. All she could think was: _it's about time!_

She then noticed that her bowl of ramen was empty. Clumsily, Hinata pulled out her wallet and placed a few coins on the countertop to pay for her meal. The shop keeper happily accepted them and took away the empty bowl. Quietly, she scraped back the chair she had been sitting on and stood up. Gaara did the same.

For a moment, they stood facing each other. Already, something was nagging at Hinata; telling her that Gaara might not be as bad as she thought. She wondered for a moment how she might see Gaara if she didn't know of his murderous actions. It was impossible for her to tell. "Well, it was n-nice talking to you…" said Hinata in barely more than a whisper.

Gaara's eyes widened slightly as she said this. For a few moments, he remained still, but then he bowed his head slightly. A few seconds later, he was gone in a whirl of sand.

Hinata's eyes were fixed to the spot where Gaara had been standing. As frightening as he was, she wasn't nearly as scared of him now as she had been before their meeting that morning.

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**A/N: What do you think? Please review, because if you do, it'll make my writing go a lot faster. I tend to write more if I see that me writing is appreciated. : ) **


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Just to answer a few questions, this takes place after what I would imagine to be the end of the Chuunin exam. I haven't read past that, so my story doesn't correspond with whatever happens after the exam.

Chapter 2

Around her, the walk home was rather uneventful, but quite a few things were going on in her mind. Gaara kept popping in. She kept asking herself why he had killed those three ninja's in the forest. It would have been so much better to have let them go. _Why… Why hadn't he then?_ Hinata had always been a very gentle soul and she couldn't understand how, with no hesitation at all, Gaara had been able to slaughter them so easily. _Perhaps one day, I can ask him_, she thought. But the thought was soon driven from her mind as she entered the Hyuuga household.

"I have a message from your father!" said one of the maids breathlessly from atop a staircase.

Hinata inclined her head and asked the maid what it was.

"He says that he's going to run some important errands and that he'll be back later on tonight. You're to train as much as possible until then." With that, the maid bowed and hurried off to attend to her housekeeping duties.

Hinata sighed and looked at her hands. "Training" was one of her father's favourite words. It always cropped up in the conversations they had. _You need to train… Not until after you've trained… Have you trained today Hinata?_

With a small sigh, Hinata began the walk to the courtyard, which was primarily used for training. By now, she knew where every single scratch on the walls circling the courtyard were. She had been there quite often.

"Alright…" she whispered to herself, as she began to throw shruikens at a target on the opposite wall. Most of them made their mark on the little read circle in the center of the bull's eye; more than usual, in fact. Hinata smiled slightly, it _was_ in improvement on her aim, although, she doubted her father would even notice.

She thought back to the Chuunin exams. Everyone had put up a good strong fight. Even she had; as she was constantly told by her teammates. Hinata hadn't been at all happy with the result of her fight with Neji. She had ended up in the hospital for a good amount of time. However, there was one thing she was proud of: she hadn't given up. Even when she had been on the verge of collapsing, she had stood up straight and looked Neji in the eye.

There had been so many strong ninjas, Naruto among them. This was why she was training. Not to impress her father, but to become more like the people she admired.

Her mind strayed to Gaara again. He was one of those strong ninjas. She hadn't seen his fight, but she had been filled in on the details.

Three hours of training later, Hinata emerged from the courtyard, her forehead covered in sweat and her breath coming in short gasps. It wasn't until she had changed into clean clothing that she realized how hungry she was. Quickly, Hinata ran to the kitchen where she was greeted by empty cupboards. _Great…_

Hinata rolled her clear eyes and walked out of the household. She wondered if she should go to the ramen shop, but decided not to. You could only have ramen so many times a day.

A stall selling spring rolls caught her eye and she set off towards it. As soon as Hinata had finished purchasing a fresh spring role, two hands covered her eyes and loud voice yelled: "Guess who?"

Hinata felt her entire face turn red. There was only one person in the entire leaf village whose voice was that loud. "N-naruto?"

The blonde ninja removed his hands from over her eyes as she turned around to face him. He had his usual big goofy grin plastered on his face. "Hey Hinata, d'you know why Gaara's here?"

Gaara again. He sure was becoming a major part of her day. "Um, he's here with Temari, visiting Shikamaru."

Naruto scratched his head, deep in thought, until he caught sight of an obviously embarrassed Shikamaru holding hands with Temari.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh!" he exclaimed! "Sorry Hinata, but I need to go tease him about this!"

Hinata giggled slightly, but her giggle soon trailed off into nothingness. Once again, another opportunity to actually talk to Naruto was gone. She stood there for a while, her spring role forgotten. How long would it take for Naruto to notice her…?

"Hello…" said someone from behind her.

Hinata jumped and whirled around quickly. It was Gaara. "O-oh, h-hi."

Gaara remained silent for a while. "You've been training."

Hinata nodded her head. Her face was probably covered in sweat.

A silence followed that made Hinata extremely uncomfortable. Never had she endured such a silence. Why was it so quiet anyway? What was Gaara doing? She looked at him. His eyes were closed. He seemed to be thinking about something.

Finally, after five minutes, Hinata made up her mind. "Erm, sorry G-gaara, but I n-need to go…"

Hinata walked down to the end of the street and turned back to look at Gaara, only to realize that he wasn't there. Tilting her head to one side, she resumed walking, taking a short cut through an alley way.

Wumph!

Hinata had collided with something. She snapped her head up, looking into green eyes. It was Gaara, again.

"I'll help you train if you like…" Gaara's face was completely emotionless, but his voice gave it away. Hinata could sense his hesitation.

She would have loved this moment to no end if it were Naruto asking her the question, but… it was Gaara. _Should I accept? Should I decline?_ Hinata didn't know quite what to say. Somehow, those words sounded awkward, rolling off Gaara's tongue. He probably hadn't asked anyone if they needed his help before…

Before she knew what was happening, she heard herself answer him. "Y-yes, that'd be n-nice…"

Gaara had obviously been expecting a _no_, because for a split second, a smile graced his features before it reverted to its original hard expression.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey, I'd just like to say thank you to my reviewers! Your comments are greatly appreciated! I also apologize for any major grammar errors you might encounter, I'm really tired right now.**

Chapter 3

The sun was setting in the west of the Hidden Leaf Village. Hinata sat in her room looking outside, watching the massive yellow orb sink lower and lower out of sight. How beautiful it was. If only her day had been as beautiful. Naruto hadn't exactly paid very much attention to her… _I have to stop getting depressed over things like this._ She thought to herself.

And then there was the fact that she had agreed to let Gaara help her with her training. She had recently started seeing Gaara in less of a frightening light, but spending more time with him than was necessary didn't appeal all that much to her. The words had just tumbled out of her mouth and she had been too shocked to say anything else when she had seen him smile.

For a second, she thought that the smile had been a trick of the light. Could Gaara smile? Was he capable of it? Of course he was. _All humans are capable of smiling_, she thought……. _is Gaara even completely human? _At this moment, her rational side stepped in, dismissing all thoughts of Gaara not being human.

At that moment, a knock on her bedroom door shook her out of her thoughts.

"Yes?" said Hinata.

"There's a young man at the door. He wishes to speak with you." said a maid.

Hinata's eyes widened. Who wanted to speak with her now? A young man. Perhaps it was Naruto? Quickly, she hoisted herself off the chair she had been sitting on and left her room; following the maid down the steps into the entrance hall. Leaning against a door frame was Gaara.

Hinata felt the hopeful bubble, which contained the notion that her visitor could be Naruto, pop. She sighed quietly.

"Hello G-Gaara." she said without very much enthusiasm.

Gaara didn't say anything. His eyes traveled slowly around the room and came to a rest on the maid who was standing beside Hinata. Taking his icy glare as a cue to leave, the maid scampered out of the hall. He chuckled. "People are easy to scare. All I have to do is look at them."

Hinata wasn't sure what to say.

"S-so, w-hat can I d-do for you…?" she asked.

Gaara looked at her. "You agreed to let me help you train."

Hinata looked at him quizzically. "Actually, I was g-going to go to bed…"

Gaara's eyes flashed. "You aren't going to bed. You're going to train."

Hinata's mouth fell open. As scared as she was of Gaara, she was prepared to turn her back on him and march up the stairs to her room. Today hadn't been a good day for her. She had trained for an extensive amount of time. Naruto had hardly paid any attention to her. And, she had agreed to let a killer help her with her training. She was definitely in need of a good night's sleep.

Making up her mind, she turned on the spot and began walking towards the stairs. "I'm going to bed."

She wasn't sure what she had expected him to do when she had turned her back on him, but a torrent of sand flowing out of his gourd and wrapping itself around her wasn't one of them. She could feel the sand pressing her body from all sides, but, thankfully, it wasn't crushing her.

"What… are you d-doing…?" gasped Hinata.

Gaara began walking towards her. "Don't walk away from me. We're going to train!" his voice was becoming even louder with each syllable.

The sand surrounding her was tightening its grip. "It h-hurts…" Hinata began gasping for breath. Surely he wasn't going to kill her?

The sand, which had gradually been increasing its pressure on her, loosened and then vanished altogether. Hinata dropped to the polished floor and grabbed her left arm. It was shaking uncontrollably, as was the rest of her body. Her eyes concentrating on the blue floor tiles, she thought over and over again that there was no chance in the world that she'd train with Gaara after this. She was scared of him. She was really scared of him.

Slowly, she lifted her head to look at Gaara. He was staring wide-eyed at his hands with a horrified expression etched into his features. He was drawing in ragged breath after ragged. She felt some of her fear melt away. This was the most emotion she had ever seen on his face and by the looks of it; he was horrified with what he had done.

Hinata continued to watch him. She was internally debating with herself about whether or not she should approach him. He had just attacked her. This fact made her want to run away. However, seeing him the way he was now, looking so disgusted with himself, made her want to comfort him. He almost reminded her of a child who had promised his mother that he wouldn't touch her vase of flowers, but had touched it anyway—causing it to crash to the floor. Except, he hadn't broken something, he had attacked her.

Before she could make up her mind about approaching him or not, Gaara's breathing calmed down and his horrified expression withered away. He looked at her with his hard green eyes and began walking towards her. He stopped right in front of her and said, "Fine. You can sleep. But be up early tomorrow morning."

With that, he turned on his heel and walked out of the Hyuuga Household. Hinata stared at his retreating silhouette until it dissolved into sand and disappeared.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hehe... Miss me? XD Sorry the fourth chapter took sooooo long. I've just been really busy, and writers block doesn't really help either. Anyway, enjoy!**

Chapter 4

A shock of blonde hair obscured her vision. Naruto was standing right in front of her and he was smiling. How she loved it when he smiled. Hinata longed to wrap her arms around him and hug him tight. An echoing voice shook her out of her thoughts. "_I love you Hinata…"_

Naruto's smile grew wider and he chuckled sheepishly as he hugged her. Hinata's heart could've exploded with happiness, but soon, Naruto faded away and the light blue ceiling of her room came into focus. Hinata let a few silent tears slide down her cheeks. It had been a dream, as usual. Why was it always a dream? Why couldn't it become a reality?

She was about to start openly crying, when she heard a soft scratching at the window. Her curiosity overcame her sadness, as she lifted herself from her bed and walked over to the window. Maybe it was a tree branch? No… there hadn't been any trees planted near her window… She nearly screamed. Staring back at her through the glass was Gaara.

Hinata took a step backwards to support herself on her desk. When her breathing was back to normal, she shuffled towards the window and opened it. Gaara leaped off the window ledge and landed lightly on the dark blue carpet of her room. He surveyed his surroundings and then his eyes came to a rest on Hinata.

"Y-you surprised me!" she said shakily.

Gaara looked at her quizzically. "You're a ninja. Little things like that shouldn't scare you."

Her eyes dropped. He was right. She felt a single tear slide down her cheek, but she wiped it away, hoping that Gaara hadn't seen it. She didn't want to cry in front of him. She wanted him to take her seriously, seeing as they _were_ going to train together.

"I'm sorry." she said.

Gaara had seen the tear. Tears were strange and foreign to him; he had never cried. But, he did know that people cried when they were sad. He began to wonder why he had never cried. His childhood certainly hadn't been a fun one. _Assassination attempts… stealing his mother's life…_ For a moment he felt a burning sensation near the bottom lids of his eyes, but then the feeling passed and his eyes felt normal again. _Curious_, he thought. _"I'm sorry." _His thoughts were interrupted instantly.

"Why are you apologizing?" he asked.

"B-because… I, um, shouldn't have been s-scared…" Hinata forced out.

Gaara rolled his eyes slightly; any thoughts of tears were gone. He was about to reply when Hinata's bedroom door opened.

Hinata, whose back had been to the door, heard it open. She whirled around to see her father standing there. He looked the same as ever. She then remembered who was with her. What would her father say when he realized that there was someone else in the room? She closed her eyes and waited for an explosion. Gaara was a boy, and she wasn't sure that her father would approve of a boy in her room. But no explosions came.

"Hinata, why are your eyes closed? What's wrong?" asked her father.

She opened her eyes and glanced behind her. Gaara was gone. "N-nothing's wrong." she said, her voice shaking a little more than she would've liked.

"I see… Well, then, you'd best hurry and get to your training." With that, he turned around and shut her bedroom door behind her.

Hinata, who had been holding her breath, let it out. That had been too close. _But, where did Gaara go?_ She thought. Her question was soon answered when she glanced out the window. There he was, standing on the lawn, looking up at the window. She waved weakly in his direction and indicated that she'd be down in a few minutes.

A few minutes later, she was out on the dark lawn, standing with Gaara. His eyes were closed. Hinata wasn't sure what he was thinking about. It could be anything; his facial features sure weren't giving anything away.

A sudden urge to wave her hand in front of his face took hold of her. _Should I?_ What would happen if she did, she had no way of knowing. Would the sand come bursting out of the gourd?

Slowly, she raised her hand and shook it lightly in front of his face. Gaara's form disappeared in a burst of sand. Any feeling of calm Hinata had been feeling was gone. The training had obviously just begun and Gaara was no longer in her sights…

**A/N: You like? The fifth chapter is in process. Hopefully it won't take too long.**


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